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Crossroads Christian Fellowship

Stop at the Crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it.
Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.
Jeremiah 6:16

Showing posts with label light. Show all posts
Showing posts with label light. Show all posts

July 29, 2018

Anticipating Heaven: It's Really Quite Special!

Do you lack a positive anticipation for Heaven? This may partly be because you just don't know enough about Heaven to look forward to it. In this message we will explore Heaven as really quite special... to say the least!!

Revelation 4,5:11
Matthew 5:16,5:45,5:48-6:1,6:9,7:11,7:21,10:32-33,14:19,3:16-17,18:10,5:12,5:34
1 Peter 3:22,1:4
Luke 23:43,1:19
Hebrews 9:23-24,10:34
Acts 7:48-49

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:
  • Why are folks not sure they actually want to go to heaven?
  • What does it mean that heaven is a place, and God is there in a special way?
  • Why are the current representations of heaven often unhelpful?
  • What do we learn from the anthill and the resort?
  • How about the King's throne-room?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

December 4, 2016

Irrepressible Wonder and Praise (Part I)

When you look upon the incarnate Christ it should cause irrepressible wonder and praise. This series during Advent is a study of the greatness of Jesus before He came to earth as we focus on passages that speak of the glory and majesty of Christ in His preexistent state. Its goal is to cause us to adore Him for becoming flesh!

John 1:1-18,3:31-32,14:6
Genesis 1
Psalm 33:6
Proverbs 8:27-31
1 John 1:1-3
Revelation 19:12-13

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:
  • What is behind the concept of the Word?
  • What is the significance of in the beginning... was with... was God?
  • What was the Word's role in creation?
  • What is the significance of the phrase the Word became flesh?
  • What are the implications of this for the whole world?
  • For us?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

February 7, 2016

Achieving Heaven: Heaven is Being with Him

We will grow in our anticipation of Heaven as we grow in our love for Christ and long to see Him face to face.

Revelation 1:9-20,5:6
2 Corinthians 5:1-11
Philippians 1:21-23
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
John 13:33-14:6,17:24
Romans 5:7

    It is interesting that the New Testament nowhere speaks of believers going 'to heaven' when they die. Instead, they go to be with Christ. Edward Donnelly
    John Bunyan's Mr. Standfast, just before he dies, rejoices that 'I am going now to see that Head that was crowned with thorns and that face that was spat upon for me. I have formerly lived by hearsay and faith, but now I go where I shall live by sight and shall be with Him in whose company I delight myself.' Edward Donnelly
    Sooner could a worm aspire to be a brain surgeon that a sinner expect to work his own passage to glory. Edward Donnelly
    So then let 'Deserved' be written on the floor of hell, but on the door of heaven and life 'The Free Gift'. Richard Baxter
    If you are in Christ, do not be afraid of death. He who has conquered that 'last enemy' is waiting for you on the other side. As soon as our souls pass into glory we will see Jesus. He who has known and loved us from before the beginning of time will welcome us into His immediate presence. We will not feel strange or out of place, but profoundly and permanently at home. We will know that we are where we belong, and everlastingly secure. Edward Donnelly
    The joy of heaven is communing with Christ. The joy of earth should be communing with Him as well. Edward Donnelly
    Modern Christians are ready to busy themselves in almost any religious activity but that of quiet communion with their Lord, regarded more a duty than a delight. They hope to go to heaven, claim to be looking forward to it eagerly. Yet the essence of the heaven they profess to long for is that communion with Christ in which they show so little interest! Something profoundly troubling underlies this spiritual apathy. Edward Donnelly
    If we do not get to heaven before we die, we shall never get there afterward. Charles Spurgeon
Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:
  • Why is being with a person so superior to Skype?
  • How does this impact our view of Heaven?
  • What are the aspects of seeing and being with Jesus in heaven that are so special?
  • What are the possible problems if we do not find this aspect of heaven attractive?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

October 25, 2015

Mark: True Motivation - What's Ahead!

Mark describes that Jesus was transfigured before some of His disciples. The implications are vastly far reaching and immensely encouraging to those who have chosen the pathway of discipleship.

2 Peter 1:16-21
Revelation 1:9-18
Mark 8:27-9:8
John 14:6,6:68
Acts 4:12
Romans 8:17-18

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:
  • What does the word transfiguration mean?
  • Why is the transfiguration so important?
  • What does it teach us about Jesus?
  • Why is it such an encouragement after what Jesus just called His disciples to in the context?
  • Where are we heading?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

October 6, 2013

The Assembling of Ourselves Together: Unleashing Disciples

What is the church for? Why do we assemble ourselves together regularly? Why do churches spend so much money and time on advertising and programs until everyone is exhausted? Is this what Jesus envisioned and commanded? Is this what the apostles did? What He commanded and what they did was make disciples and then unleashed these disciples upon the the world. Are you an unleashed disciple?...a very dangerous person indeed!!!

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Acts 8:1-4,17:6
Matthew 5:13-16
Proverbs 31:28
1 Corinthians 7:14
Ephesians 6:5-9
Colossians 3:22-4:1

    To these protracted and cruel persecutions the church opposed no revolutionary violence, no carnal resistance, but the moral heroism of suffering and dying for the truth. But this very heroism was her fairest ornament and staunchest weapon. In this very heroism she proved herself worthy of her divine founder, who submitted to the death of the cross for the salvation of the world, and even prayed that his murderers might be forgiven. The patriotic virtues of Greek and Roman antiquity reproduced themselves here in exalted form, in self-denial for the sake of a heavenly country, and for a crown that fadeth not away. Even boys and girls became heroes, and rushed with a holy enthusiasm to death. In those hard times men had to make earnest of the words of the Lord: "Whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple." "He, that loveth father and mother more than me, is not worthy of me." But then also the promise daily proved itself true: "Blessed are they, who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." "He, that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it." And it applied not only to the martyrs themselves, who exchanged the troubled life of earth for the blessedness of heaven, but also to the church as a whole, which came forth purer and stronger from every persecution, and thus attested her indestructible vitality.

    These suffering virtues are among the sweetest and noblest fruits of the Christian religion. It is not so much the amount of suffering which challenges our admiration, although it was terrible enough, as the spirit with which the early Christians bore it. Men and women of all classes, noble senators and learned bishops, illiterate artisans and poor slaves, loving mothers and delicate virgins, hoary-headed pastors and innocent children approached their tortures in no temper of unfeeling indifference and obstinate defiance, but, like their divine Master, with calm self-possession, humble resignation, gentle meekness, cheerful faith, triumphant hope, and forgiving charity. Such spectacles must have often overcome even the inhuman murderer. "Go on," says Tertullian tauntingly to the heathen governors, "rack, torture, grind us to powder: our numbers increase in proportion as ye mow us down. The blood of Christians is their harvest seed. Your very obstinacy is a teacher. For who is not incited by the contemplation of it to inquire what there is in the core of the matter? And who, after having joined us, does not long to suffer?" Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Volume II

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

April 21, 2013

Death is Gain: Heaven is God's Home

Heaven is God's home! He lives there and it has all the powerful realities of being at His place where He reveals Himself most fully. Consequently it is a place of Glory, Love, Peace, Holiness and Joy!

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John 13:31-14:6
Isaiah 63:15
Psalm 33:13-14,23:6
Revelation 22:4-5
Luke 2:9,9:29-31
Acts 9:3,7:55
Exodus 40:34-35
Genesis 28:16-17

    Heaven is a part of creation that God has built for this end, to be the place of his glorious presence, and it is his abode forever; and here will he dwell, and gloriously manifest himself to all eternity.

    And this renders heaven a world of love; for God is the fountain of love, as the sun is the fountain of light. And therefore the glorious presence of God in heaven, fills heaven with love, as the sun, placed in the midst of the visible heavens in a clear day, fills the world with light. The apostle tells us that "God is love;" and therefore, seeing he is an infinite being, it follows that he is an infinite fountain of love. Seeing he is an all-sufficient being, it follows that he is a full and over-flowing, and inexhaustible fountain of love. And in that he is an unchangeable and eternal being, he is an unchangeable and eternal fountain of love.

    There, even in heaven, dwells the God from whom every stream of holy love, yea, every drop that is, or ever was, proceeds. There dwells God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, united as one, in infinitely dear, and incomprehensible, and mutual, and eternal love. There dwells God the Father, who is the father of mercies, and so the father of love, who so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son to die for it. There dwells Christ, the Lamb of God, the prince of peace and of love, who so loved the world that he shed his blood, and poured out his soul unto death for men. There dwells the great Mediator, through whom all the divine love is expressed toward men, and by whom the fruits of that love have been purchased, and through whom they are communicated, and through whom love is imparted to the hearts of all God’s people. There dwells Christ in both his natures, the human and the divine, sitting on the same throne with the Father. And there dwells the Holy Spirit — the Spirit of divine love, in whom the very essence of God, as it were, flows out, and is breathed forth in love, and by whose immediate influence all holy love is shed abroad in the hearts of all the saints on earth and in heaven. There, in heaven, this infinite fountain of love — this eternal Three in One — is set open without any obstacle to hinder access to it, as it flows forever. There this glorious God is manifested, and shines forth, in full glory, in beams of love. And there this glorious fountain forever flows forth in streams, yea, in rivers of love and delight, and these rivers swell, as it were, to an ocean of love, in which the souls of the ransomed may bathe with the sweetest enjoyment, and their hearts, as it were, be deluged with love, and that forever! Jonathan Edwards, Heaven a World of Love

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

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